A study of wood rats’ housekeeping suggests they use pest control in their homes, too.
Dusky-footed wood rats (Neotoma fuscipes) along the west coast of Mexico and the United States leave nibbled bits of bay leaves around their sleeping chambers, explains Richard B. Hemmes of Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. He and his colleagues report in the May Behavioral Ecology that their lab tests show that the bay leaves can kill flea larvae.
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